Hospital wards work on different schedules, for example the variation between meal and quiet times, ward rounds and visiting hours. These factors can limit the time students have to increase their learning through patient interaction. Finding a patient to take a history from and examine can be a time consuming process, leading to more time being spent trying to find a patient, rather than learning from them. When large numbers of students are present on a single ward at once this leads to frustration for students and hospital staff alike, but even more so – patients. By combining static information provided by ward staff (such as meal times and rest periods) with real time information about current ward busyness – wardWatch creates a database of up to date information about any ward within a hospital. This can help to determine which ward is most suitable for a student to visit at a particular time, giving students the opportunity to take more control over their own learning and allowing them to maximise their own personal learning opportunities within a clinical environment. With an increase in this tertiary care information being provided; students can have more hands on time within wards resulting in more patient interaction experience and, at the end of the day, better doctors.
